Do you have chickens and rats? Or chickens and wild birds that are eating more feed than the chickens? Here is the solution. But before you buy look for the different versions of our feeder, this is the exterior version and we have a soft close exterior version. There are also multi packed feeders that can lower the shipping costs down to as low as $9 to $12.00 each depending on how many and distance. If you need to stop rats, mice, and wild birds from eating your chicken feed then this will work.

We have a lot of customer
submitted videos too that show the feeders in use, most from
customers with feeders that are two, even three years old.

The medium rat proof treadle chicken feeder hopper holds 26
pounds of laying pellets or other feed and has a 100%
galvanized sheet metal feed tray and hopper so the feed
flows easily and sanitation is assured.
Generally a laying hen eats around 4 ounces of feed per day,
so one pound of feed should feed four birds one day, 7
pounds per week per four birds, or 3 1/2 weeks per full
hopper of feed for a four hen flock. The feeder is designed and marketed for full size birds. If you have bantams or other than full size birds please read our FAQ section on our main website. There is a lot of info on that web page including videos.

Approximate assembled size is 18” deep x 14” wide x 19”
tall. The actual feeder hopper is about 11" x 10" x 14" tall, partially rectangular, partially triangular shape where the door has to swing back against the feed hopper. Shipping weight is around 15 pounds with packaging for
the medium rat proof treadle chicken feeder.
When you are ready to purchase add the item to your cart and then scroll down to find the PayPal icon to automatically insert your shipping information. You will need to add your daytime phone number for FedEx Ground.
For more information about the feeders visit our main chicken feeder web page.

We have a lot of customer submitted videos too that show the feeders in use, most from customers with feeders that are two, even three years old.

Here is one recent review on this product. The lady had rats tunneling under her coop causing structural damage, saved 20% per day in feed costs for 25 hens, and is getting three to four extra eggs per day, which probably meant that the rats were eating that many eggs or were stressing the hens enough to impact egg production.

Headline: Rats are gone!Barb, Orange, VA
Review:

I ordered 2 feeders. They're easy to assemble and look like
they'll be easy to clean, although none of the birds are hanging out on
top of them.
I attached the wood mounting block to the back of the feeder and screwed
two heavy-duty hooks into the top of the block. The hooks hang on the
inside of the chain link fence that supports the open-air chicken coop.
This causes the feeder to tilt forward a bit, so I'm planning to add a
bumper near the bottom to correct the tilt.

I recommend training the chickens when you can spend a few hours with
them over two days. They were scared of the sound of the door closing
and would run away. I stood in the coop and would catch a hen, place
her on the treadle and let her eat. Then I'd remove her, let the door
close, and place her back on the treadle. I did this repeatedly with
all the brave girls and the not-so-brave girls would watch and then eat
from the sides. When I saw one girl jump on the treadle, I left the
coop. I repeated this the next day to make sure multiple girls were
jumping on the treadle. Make sure there is no other food available
because they won't learn if they're not motivated by hunger.
I'm using finely-ground feed. I haven't had any issues with bridging,
probably because the hens rock the feeder when they jump on the treadle.
I'm feeding 25 birds with 2 feeders and all of them appear to be
getting enough to eat. I've seen 4 hens eating at the same time, but usually
I see 3.

My coop recently became overrun by rats that dug through heavy clay
under the apron of my coop. I think one or more got caught inside the
coop when the automatic door closed so they spent the night digging out.
The tunnels were causing structural damage because they tunneled under
weight-bearing blocks. Judging by the extensive network of tunnels
radiating 40-50 feet from the coop, there were many rats.
I installed the rat-proof feeders and poison bait stations at the same
time because rats will chew on the chickens' feet if they don't have
anything else to eat. The feeders and bait stations have been in place
for just over two weeks and we've noticed this past week that the tunnel
entrances in the coop aren't active any more and are being filled in by
the chickens scratching the dirt.

We're even getting 3-4 more eggs a
day. I'm assuming the rats were stressing the chickens, which reduces
egg output.
I'm using 20% less feed and getting more eggs, so I'm very happy with
the new feeders!

I purchased this feeder a couple of years ago and it worked like a charm...Beforehand, the cats couldn’t keep up with the rats in the chicken coop and we were being overrun. Not only have the rats left, but our bill for organic feed has fallen dramatically…the only snag I found was educating our very silly hens to use the feeder. There likely are varieties of hens that are less flighty and would be easier to train. Even so, the hens have adjusted and are doing well. I have recommended this product a number of my friends who have chickens or who have clients with chickens together with offering the loan of a hen to instruct their barnyard in its proper use.

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16 of 18Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Virginia from Woodinville, WA.
on 1/22/2015

5

no title

I have 2 separate groups of 3 and 4 hens. One group learned in a couple days how to use feeder tho mainly one hen uses it, others eat from sides. Other group are slow learners. After 3 days one hen will jump on perch if I open it but I have not seen her use it on her own. The rest are afraid. I haven't fed them anything so they gotta be hungry! Will see after a week how smart they are. Feeder is well built and easy to install. It is very loud opening and closing with a bang and I feel this is part of the problem of their fears. It definitely seems rat proof which is my problem. It is under cover in my coop. If I could suggest improvements, they would be for some kind of lexan type door so chickens could see feed for motivation and I could monitor feed level without having to look inside. Also that door did not slam. I even put little tabs that go on bottom of chair legs which helped a tiny bit. Also that the roof would be sloped so hens would not roost on top. But if chickens learn to eat out of it, I will be happy. All in all, good product that I am glad I bought.

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12 of 12Found Helpful

Reviewed by: kathy from south florida.
on 9/18/2015

4

easy to assemble and my chickens learned to use them very quickly

I ordered 2 of these. They came sooner than expected and in perfect condition. They were easy to assemble and my chickens learned to use them very quickly. So far it's been only a few days, and although I see a few rats in the evening, they haven't been able to get into the feeders. This will be a huge savings. I haven't had the feeders even a week yet -- the rats will eventually relocate, I'm sure. My only problem was that the California Whites are much too small to use the counterweight with, and the door doesn't close tightly using the spring only unless the chickens jump off. If they just step off, sometimes the door has a 1/8" opening.

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11 of 12Found Helpful

Reviewed by: (Verified Buyer)Michael Yolen from Seattle.
on 2/11/2015

4

Ms.

Love this feeder. I was being over run with the neighborhood birds eating all of the chicken feed, but not anymore. Putting it together was easy after watching the video, although I wish the directions were more specific for which direction to install the rod that connects the treadle to the door. My door was sticking a bit and when I re-read the directions it said that if that happens the rod is in the wrong way. Why not just tell us the correct way to install it in the first place? Other than that it did take my girls about 3 days to figure out that the feeder wasn't gonna kill them. They're still a little freaked out when one of them steps off the treadle and the door slams shut. But...they did learn, and the neighborhood birds are no longer a nuisance!! I would definitely recommend this feeder and would purchase it again.

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8 of 8Found Helpful

Reviewed by: DesertRat from Tucson.
on 10/6/2015

4

GREAT FEEDER!

This is the best feeder on the market. It has saved me a ton of money, and unlike the Wood Treadle Feeders, (which will be chewed into) this one is all metal. It took my chickens about two days to start using it on their own. This company has excellent customer service.

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8 of 8Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Teresa from New Mexico.
on 7/16/2015

5

A great product!!

Little mice were climbing in the back at the top, I hung 3 metal door
hinges ( a girls fix) and twala no more mice. Wow my feed bill has gone
down tremendously, and all the sickness the birds and mice bring are
coming to an end,!!! Thanks for such a great product!!

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8 of 8Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Aryana from .
on 12/21/2014

5

Ordering a second rat proof treadle chicken feeder!

I ordered a second rat proof treadle chicken feeder! My chickens are getting used to the first one and it seems there isn't quite enough room for them all to eat in peace.

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8 of 8Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Cory M. from .
on 12/1/2014

5

New, Improved Medium Ratproof Chicken Feeder is even more awesome!

We bought an original Medium Ratproof Chicken Feeder a couple of years ago. Because of weather, the metal piece under the door rusted out. Other than that, it was an amazing feeder. We liked it so much that we recently bought a new one. My husband put it together, and he said that it is higher quality than the first one. In addition to being ratproof, it also keeps the feed clean, unlike many other feeders. We are extremely pleased with it, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a rodent-proof chicken feeder.

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7 of 7Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Karen from Gainesville.
on 9/23/2015

5

Definitely worth the cost

I was thrilled when I saw my friend's rat proof feeder. It looked like it actually worked. I ordered this one and did exactly as the instructions said to train my chickens. They had it down by that evening. Even my leghorns were able to figure it out since it is a little trickier for them because they are smaller.
There is hardly any waste because they have to balance on the treadle and stretch for the food. The rats and ground squirrels are very mad because they don't have free reign any more. I have about 30 chickens and they are doing just fine with one feeder since they just take turns to eat. I did order another one that I will introduce to my younger ones without the counter weight so when they get merged with the older gals they don't have to learn a new feeder also.
Definitely worth the cost.

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6 of 6Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Amelia from Ashland, OR.
on 8/19/2015

5

The feeder works very well

Your feeder works very well -- very easy to pay for itself. This is a second unit -- I am getting this for my neighbor as a gift. Your feeder works very well -- very easy to pay for itself. Also, I "seeded" the feeder with meal-worms to help train my hens to begin using it.

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6 of 6Found Helpful

Reviewed by: George W from Moses Lake WA.
on 8/18/2014

5

Good value - could be better

The Unit was packaged adequately for protection during shipment. Assembly was fairly simple - although there was a bend in the connecting rod that I had to "move" to get the door to open all the way. Combining the spring and the counterbalance weight was too much for our chickens, as it took over two pounds on the pedal to open the door. I took the spring off and instead added a plastic bottle of pebbles secured to the weight with a zip-tie so that it would take 1-1/2 pounds on the pedal to open the door. The door was not completely flat and takes a full 1-1/2 pounds to hold it closed all around the opening. The door would hold much flatter both open and closed if it had some 90 degree flanges or a large rolled-edge around the edges. As it is, it has been welded onto a hinge rod which makes it non-removable for any door improvements.
It took our chickens a couple weeks to really figure out the pedal and have the courage to step on it on their own. One of them still hasn't really gotten it yet and just eats the spillage, which might go away if I make the lower lip a little higher. Also, the pedal is made of some nice hardwood, but I really need to make it bigger so the chickens have something a little more substantial to stand on. Perhaps if I make it large/heavy enough I'll be able to re-incorporate spring that the feeder came with.
We're saving money on food for sure - probably due to the chickens having to work harder for it - and we don't see the rats around anymore, so overall we're happy with the purchase.

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5 of 5Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Tim from Kirkland, WA.
on 8/4/2015

3

A trio of feeders

This is my second order from you. My first order consisted of two medium rat proof feeders, so this is my 3rd feeder. They are quite good, easy to teach the chickens to use, and definitely cut down on feed waste. Also, they do not let water in (though I have tried to put them in locations where they will not be rained on directly). I have definitely sprayed the tops down when chickens have left droppings on them, and no water got in. As for the assembly, my husband says it's fairly quick and easy. The feeders are well made items and I anticipate them lasting for quite some time. The shipping was very fast too.
In fact, the only complaint I have is that two of my three feeders are not perfectly level, so even on a completely flat surface I have to fashion a little shim to shove in so they don't rock back and forth when the birds sit on the treadle. They tend to not like the feeders moving when they are trying to eat. Otherwise, a great product! Well worth the money spent! Thanks

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5 of 5Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Kristen Harkless from Anna, TX.
on 7/4/2015

5

It is sooooo well made

Just a note to say I love my automatic chicken feeder and will be ordering another one soon. what a great value. The chickens were puzzled by it at first but now they get it. and it is sooooo well made. Thank you!

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5 of 5Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Margaret H. from .
on 12/10/2014

5

I only have to fill it once every two weeks

It's been about three months since I started using my treadle feeder. This Has to be the single best thing I've ever purchased for me and my chickens! It makes life easier. Since I have an ultra small flock I only have to fill it once every two weeks. Keep up the great work!

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5 of 5Found Helpful

Reviewed by: David H from Germantown TN..
on 11/6/2014

5

Mr

The metal parts of this are well constructed but cheap wood and screews were used. The flapper door is sheet metal suspended on wood by two screws. This had become detached during shipping. It was a quick and easy fix, but annoying to deal with in a new product. The foot pedal wood is the same low quality. It would be a good idea to paint that piece or it won't last long. My chickens are still figuring it out, but it has stopped the rats, so in that regard it works as advertised.

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4 of 4Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Mike from MS.
on 8/12/2015

4

None

Happy the product was made in the Philippines. Assembly directions slightly difficult to follow but watching online video hepled figure it out. Hens learned in about 3 days, DO NOT supplement food during training period. I placed hens on perch to help them learn. Wall mounted, so i provided a step up to feeder. Weight could be redesigned. Seems to be keeping rodents out of food. Food waste GREATLY reduced. Would buy it again.

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4 of 4Found Helpful

Reviewed by: C. W. from CA.
on 7/24/2015

4

Wonderful product

First of all, I really love your product! I have chicks in the city and, when I let them out of the coop to pasture, I had every bird and squirrel in the coop eating the food. That doesn't happen anymore! Thank you!

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4 of 4Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Doug from .
on 12/31/2014

5

Chemist

This is great feeder, my chickens learned in 3-4 days. I wish you can make larger one , it can store 50 lbs of food. It will be no worry for two weeks if i am out of town.

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3 of 3Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Lin from Hayward.
on 4/12/2016

5

Works great

Order arrived very quickly. Easy to assemble. Chickens learned to use feeder in 2 to 3 hours. I highly recommend.

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3 of 3Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Doug from Signal Mtn, TN.
on 7/20/2015

5

Mr.

Good product at a reasonable price. It took the hens a few days to catch on but they are happily fighting each other for position now. I probably mounted it too high off the floor initially but they caught on once I lowered it. So far so good!

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2 of 2Found Helpful

Reviewed by: dave from Advance Mills, VA.
on 1/14/2016

5

Mrs.

My 2 chickens and 2 ducks learned to use this within a few days. Easy to assemble. I am very happy and recommend this feeder over more expensive ones.

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2 of 2Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Ashlee from Fayetteville, AR.
on 9/7/2015

5

works great!!

We just recently built a brand new coop so I bought 2 of your medium feeders. Took no time at all for my chickens to learn how to use them. Makes doing chores easier for me as well. Highly recommend these feeders!!

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2 of 2Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Anna West from Nebraska.
on 7/13/2015

5

Unique design!

Keep up the skilled work. I love my Chicken feeder and I have had
great results from your unique design!

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2 of 2Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Elizabeth M. from South Tampa, Florida.
on 11/24/2014

5

Farmer

Great design simple installation . Would recomend a way to lock up at nite to keep raccoons out of it. Birds figured it out in a couple of days.

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1 of 1Found Helpful

Reviewed by: Robert from KCMO.
on 1/21/2016

5

Great product

I am very pleased with this chicken feeder. I am so pleased with it I will be purchasing perhaps 2 more! Very simple to assemble and best of all it's made right here in the good old USA!

Q:Does this have to be mounted on the interior of the coop or is it able to be set outdoors? Thank you!

Asked by: mary
- 8/26/2015

A: It needs to be secured to a wall or solid post to prevent it from rocking around once it gets close to empty. A seven pound bird jumping on the treadle will make it dance around and shake too much feed down into the feed tray.

It isn't totally waterproof either, rain can hit the door and run down into the feed if the wind is blowing against the door. If blowing the other way the water will drip straight down and the feeder will remain pretty dry. It is really designed as an inside feeder although it would do okay under a shed roof.

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14 of 15 Customer(s) found this Answer helpful.

Q:What prevents rats, squirrels, etc. from stepping on pedal and opening door? Or did I miss something?

Asked by: Berad199
- 10/9/2015

A: Hello,

First, the door is spring loaded so a squirrel or rat or several of the same aren't going to be strong enough to push the door open.

Rats and squirrels are too light in weight to depress the treadle but even if they did the treadle step is so far back that they couldn't reach the feed. A pack of squirrels, usually a set of juveniles with their mother might possible cooperate but squirrels are territorial and are not likely to cooperate otherwise.

Check the reviews for more information from real customers that had real rat and squirrel problems before they bought our feeder

Thanks

Al

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8 of 8 Customer(s) found this Answer helpful.

Q:I am wanting to order a medium feeder, but I have Bantams so I will need a shorter bar for them to stand on. Is that an option?

Asked by: Paige Sweatman
- 1/31/2016

A: Hello,

Look for the Duck Step in the Rat Proof Feeder section of our shopping cart. They install with two wood screws.

For bantams you are better off adding this light weight platform for the lighter and shorter birds. However doing that reduces the rat proof ability of the feeder.

You are better off letting the bantams learn to eat from the side of the feeder when another bird is using the feeder.

The feeder works because of the weight difference between a rat and a chicken and the difference in "reach" so anything you do to shorten the reach or lightening the amount of force required to operate makes the feeder less resistant to rats.

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7 of 8 Customer(s) found this Answer helpful.

Q:2 years ago purchased a similar chicken feeder and think that the rats are getting in because the door can be easily opened by hand without stepping on the treadle. Does your product differ?

Asked by: Reni
- 10/27/2015

A: Our feeder has a 2# concrete counter weight holding the door closed PLUS a spring loaded door to prevent rats, mice, and wild birds from pushing the door open. And the treadle is set so far back that they couldn't reach the feed even if they were heavy enough to depress the treadle, they would have to step off to try to eat. We recommend that the spring action be kept as stiff as possible, add a little counterweight to the treadle if needed (duct tape!) for training and gradually reduce the weight. You can gently and carefully stretch the spring to lessen the spring action but we don't recommend going too far

Read our reviews, lots of people have solved their rat problem with our feeder.

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6 of 6 Customer(s) found this Answer helpful.

Q:I am interested in purchasing your medium feeder. Can it be used freestanding, or does it need to be mounted to a wall?

Asked by: Lynn Connor
- 7/27/2015

A: The feeder needs to be secured to a wall or post or a large chunk of plywood if you want it freestanding. Several reasons why, first it would tip over once the feed got low if a good size bird jumped on the feeder. Second, the feeder would rock around and that would shake too much feed into the lower feed tray and the birds might start raking feed out if the feed levels got that high. Third reason, the impact of the door would also increase the amount of feed in the lower tray if the feeder wasn't secured to some sort of weight like a wall, a post, or a chunk of plywood that would dampen some of the impact vibrations.

If you use plywood, make it around 16" x 24" minimum, place the supplied wood standoff/mounting block on the center of the plywood and screw it in place, then set the feeder over the block and insert two screws from each side to secure the feeder. Make sure the plywood isn't rocking around, shim it, pour a but of cement grout under it if on a concrete floor, or drive some small wood stakes flush with the ground and put some screws into them if on a dirt floor.

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4 of 4 Customer(s) found this Answer helpful.

Q:We have 25 chickens, 3 ducks and 2 turkeys....So, how may feeders would you suggest and can the ducks and turkeys eat out of them too?

Asked by: Patti
- 8/12/2015

A: We now have Duck Steps and Turkey Steps available, add on extension plates for the original rat proof feeder. You can order them separate or add them to a feeder order.

Two feeders will handle 25 chickens with a bit of crowding early in the morning. Ducks have been reported to eat from the side but most customers with ducks say their ducks won't step on the treadle unless you add a wider step to the treadle plate and that defeats part of the ability to keep the rats out.

Turkeys are too large to use their feet but customers have reported that they will learn to use their breast muscle to depress the treadle. Or use the Turkey Step and mount the feeder a bit higher than normal.

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3 of 3 Customer(s) found this Answer helpful.

A: We now have USPS shipping on the shopping cart but the rates aren't always cheaper than FedEx Ground or Home Delivery. If you want to save money on shipping check out the 2 pack, 3 pack, and 4 packs where you can drive the cost of shipping down to the $12.00 per feeder range. Find some neighbors or friends and place a bulk order.

U.S. Post Office rates are about ten percent higher usually than FedEx Ground so you won't save any money. Remember that this is a fairly bulky product, holds a half sack of feed, so it is going to be expensive to ship. Other products bury the subsidized cost of shipping in the cost of the item, we think that is dishonest or they sell on Amazon and you wind up paying about 15% over the real price of the item so the seller can recover Amazon's huge commission.

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2 of 2 Customer(s) found this Answer helpful.

A: Both small and medium feeders are about 19" deep including the treadle step or around 12" just for the galvanized metal feed box. Both are the same height, around 22" or so. The medium feeder is around 11.5" wide for just the galvanized feed box and around 15" wide if you include the counterweight. The small feeder is 4" less wide than the medium, so around 7.5" wide or 11" wide with the counterweight installed. If you have not visited our main web page on the feeder it has a ton of info on sizes, FAQ's, and videos on assembly and use. Here is the web address, just copy and paste it into your browser.

http://thecarpentershop.net/mediumplywoodchickenfeeder.html

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1 of 1 Customer(s) found this Answer helpful.

The shipping on the feeders isn't cheap because they are two cubic feet and weigh 15 pounds. Local states should cost $15.00 to $21.00 and the furthest states will run up to $30.00 or $38.00.

Sales channels like Amazon or Ebay have cheaper freight on items but what most customers don't realize is that sellers are forced to bury around half of the cost in the price of the product! If the seller is selling Prime/Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) they pay the inbound shipping AND out bound shipping. We used to sell on Amazon Market Place and the maximum shipping allowed for a fifteen pound product is $12.00, half the cost of the actual shipping to California or to the East Coast. Then there is another $12.00 in selling fees (including 15% of the ultra low shipping costs!) so the sales price on Amazon had to be $24.00 higher to cover the hidden fees. We sell on Ebay too and the cost is around $15.00 more to cover the additional costs.

We feel that the fairest way is to charge the actual shipping and set the price of the actual feeder as low as possible.

If you are from Hawaii or Alaska it is cheaper to use U.S. Post Office Priority mail. Their parcel post rates are not competitive with FedEx Ground here in the continental states unless the state is nearby but a feeder to Alaska or Hawaii can be shipped for around $50.00.

The easiest way is to go to the USPS.com website and generate your own shipping label, then either print and scan it, right click on the actual label when it shows up on the screen and "save as", or just save the label as a PDF. Email the label to us, pay the cost of the product using PayPal using [email protected] as the PayPal address and your package will go out the next business day.
International orders must be handled through a forwarding service as the paperwork is quite burdensome for even a small package. Search online for package forwarding services, they will accept packages in your name, then bundle everything together and process the paperwork for exporting. Alternately, have the product shipped to a friend in the U.S. and take it back with you in your luggage when you visit. One thing to consider on international sales is that you can pack about five to nine pounds of additional product into the inside cavity of the feeder, most forwarders will consolidate packages if you ask, just make sure it will fit inside.

Trouble shooting
One of the most common problems is when a flock owner blocks open the feeder door for a few days because they have read online that it is required to train the birds.
You should never, ever, block the treadle when training birds to use the feeder. We warn about this on our website because what you have done is teach the birds that the treadle is not supposed to move. The grandpa type feeders have to do this because the door swings up into the bird's face instead of swinging back away but if you read reviews on the guillotine type feeder it takes weeks for the birds to learn to use them.

Make
sure the feeder is securely fastened to a wall or post and that the
treadle is bottom out on something solid so the bird can stand on the
ground with one foot and have the other foot holding down the
treadle.

The other thing to avoid is having other sources of food available for the birds. That means nothing, no scraps, no treats, no free range, just the feed in the feeder if you want them to learn quickly.

Lastly the third most common mistake is to allow the birds to eat their fill when you show them the feed during training. Let them eat for just a few seconds, enough to know that food is in the feeder. You want them hungry so they gather up the courage to step on that treadle!

Feedback Please!

Please give us some feedback on the shopping cart after your birds have learned to use the feeder. Just visit the shopping cart web page where you ordered the feeder and place a review. The system should recognize you or you can sign into your account to leave the feedback. Feedback really helps new customers decide if the feeder is right for them and it helps us to learn what needs improved and what we are doing right.

Remember that repair parts are always available if you should ever need them. Springs tend to be a wear item but they are cheap to replace.

Thousands of these feeders are already in use but it helps if a new flock is trained correctly from day one.
If your package of hardware is nowhere to be seen take the feeder outside on a concrete or other hard surface and drop it a few inches straight down, sometimes the hardware bag gets stuck up behind the front cover when the feeder is turned upside down during shipping and handling. If all else fails, remove the two screws in the front cover and see if it is jammed up there. Sometimes the door crank hole is plugged with extra paint, just shove the wire through to clear the excess paint. Email us at [email protected] if needed.

Will they be afraid of the new feeder?

Yes, chickens are prey animals; see how their eyes are on the sides of their head instead of in front like a predator? Binocular vision is for predators, side vision for prey so they have a wider field of view. Chickens are skittish by nature, it is in their genes, and they are wary of new things and things that move. Just a shadow flicking by overhead will make them run in panic even as chicks, it is genetically embedded knowledge, not experience. But if you start a flock off by showing them that the door is supposed to move when they step on the treadle and wait till they are hungry the birds will learn to use the feeder in one day.

How to train the birds

After the birds go to roost at night you make sure the feeder is installed, fastened to a wall or sturdy post, and is full of feed. Then remove ALL other feed sources except the feeder. No scraps, no treats, nothing but what is inside the feeder. The next morning wait till about two to three hours after sunrise and show the birds where the feed is by using your toe to trip the treadle. WHEN they are hungry enough one of them will try stepping up on the treadle. Let her eat for ten to fifteen seconds then gently push her off to see if she will try it on her own. If not, repeat the lesson.

Usually one bird will try the feeder as soon as you show them where the feed is located.
IF the birds are hungry they will mob the feeder. If they are not hungry they will remain skittish of this object that they thought wasn't supposed to move when they used it.

Don't spend a lot of time that first training session, a couple of minutes is enough if they are hungry. Go back in a couple of hours and repeat the lesson. Check on them again before they go to roost. Check again the next morning a few hours after sunrise.

Assembly Instructions Metal Feeder

Packed inside the feeder is a plastic bag containing two short bolts, four fender washers, two ¼” nuts, three ¼” lock nuts and one spring. One 4” diameter counterweight, and one treadle assembly is packed at the top of the package. The wire link connecting the door to the treadle is taped to the side of the feeder. Your feeder was assembled and tested, then disassembled and packed for shipping.

Set the feeder in the upright position. Put one of the large fender washers on a bolt then reach inside the swinging door into the feed tray and insert the bolt through the side of the feeder, add one large fender washer and one ¼” nut on the outside. Do the same for the other side then tighten the nuts firmly using a wrench or crescent wrench.

Place the counterweight bolt in the end hole of the right side treadle arm using one of the lock nuts. Just snug it up to prevent breaking the concrete counterweight. The small metal pin sticking out of the counterweight should be on top of the treadle arm to keep the counterweight from swinging down. Place the treadle arm assembly over the bolts protruding out from the sides of the feeder while making sure the counter weight is on the same side as the door crank and add one lock nut on each side. Tighten the lock nuts down lightly then back it off 1/8th turn so that the treadle will move freely. You will have to bend the treadle arms to line everything up and tweak it so nothing rubs.

Insert the wire link with small bent end into the hole in the end of the door axle crank rod and stick the large L bend end through the right side treadle arm Bend both ends of the wire link down and underneath to keep link from popping off then clip off the excess wire on the bottom end. Not too tight that it binds and prevents the door from opening. If the swinging door doesn’t open up all the way back take a pair of pliers and put a kink in the wire link till the swinging door opens all the way back. All you are doing is shortening the wire link by putting a kink in it.

If the counterweight bolt rubs the side of the feeder, bend the treadle arm out slightly till it clears. Hook the long end of spring over the top of the feeder side and using pliers pull it down and hook it under the wire link. Be careful working with the spring, watch your eyes! Pull the spring down, not up, in case it breaks.

If you have small chickens you can just use the spring, remove the concrete counter weight.
The feeder should be fastened to a wall or post for stability. There is an 1 ½” thick recycled wood spacer included, set the feeder in place and mark where the wood spacer should go, screw the spacer to the wall, put the feeder back in place, and run a couple of screws through the side of the feeder into the wood spacer.

The feeder can be fastened to a plywood base if it needs to be freestanding. Fasten the wooden block to the plywood base, then put a couple of screws through the side of the feeder. Usually the lid must be pushed to one side to get it to close completely.

Make
sure the feeder is securely fastened to a wall or post and that the
treadle is bottom out on something solid so the bird can stand on the
ground with one foot and have the other foot holding down the
treadle.

Email us at [email protected] if you have any problems, send pictures please! Don’t call, email with pictures so we can see the problem!

Return Policy

Returns ARE accepted for shipping damage that is not easily repaired by the customer and we are talking about a five minute fix using a screw driver and wrench, popping out a dent by hand, or simply tweaking the door. Let us know by email the same day your feeder arrives, take a few pictures of any damaged and email them to us so we can start the claim process with our shipper. In about two business days we can email you a return shipping label and as soon as that label shows up in the FedEx Ground system as being picked up we can re ship a replacement product. Returned feeders that have been opened are destroyed, not resold, due to the risk of disease being spread so it is an expensive process to allow returns, but if it is OUR fault or the SHIPPERS fault we will take care of the problem. Once a customer opens the box and starts the assembly process the risk of spreading disease has started as the customer might have disease organisms on their hands from handling their flock.

Returns ARE NOT accepted if you change your mind about the purchase, for lost hardware, for minor dents that can be popped out by hand, cosmetic damages, or someone expecting a Steinway Piano at Wal Mart prices. If you have OCD spend the $225.00 for the Grandpa feeder or better yet sell your chickens and use the money for visiting a shrink. Also if your chicken died before the feeder arrived, too bad, buy a new chicken. Or if the shipping damage can be repaired using a screw driver and wrench we will send you replacement parts. In four years we have had one welded door axle fail and a couple of stripped screws, both five minute fixes using a Philips screwdriver and a wrench. Hardware bags break loose on occasion and nuts or washers get lost, for that we will mail you a replacement hardware bag. Sometimes the bag gets stuck up behind the front cover and can be seen by peeking under the cover or smacking the feeder down hard on a floor to dislodge the bag.

As the years go by we offer free replacement parts such as springs or hardware, as long as it isn't something like a side panel or back panel that has rusted out after years of use. All you do is pay for the postage for delivering the parts. Don't set galvanized metal on alkaline soil is one tip and the average chicken coop has a lot of ammonia present that can accelerate rusting of even galvanized steel if you don't keep the poop away from the bottom of the feeder. Install it as we recommend and the feeder will last for many years.

We do not allow returns of used feeders for any reason due to the risk of spreading diseases. If you have not followed our instructions and your birds aren't using the feeder that is not a cause to return the feeder. Follow the instructions, all chickens are nervous by nature, few are any dumber than the rest, so we have not yet seen a flock that "won't" use the feeder but we have seen a dozen or so customers that "won't" follow the instructions and then claim their flocks are too stupid to use the feeder. Guess what? It isn't the chickens that are stupid.

We wish to keep the cost of our feeders as low as possible and our feeder is a lower cost alternative to the very expensive Grandpa feeder so we do not wish to cater to customers that think they can order a feeder, try it out, and return the product. That drives the cost of doing business up dramatically. Nor do we wish to deal with the crazy OCD people that think a chicken feeder has to be built to Steinway piano standards, be produced in the U.S., and be sold at rock bottom prices. But if you want a less expensive solution to preventing wild birds and rats from stealing your feed, are intelligent enough to assemble the feeder or have someone that can do that or are willing to ask the five year old neighbor kid to assemble the feeder, then you are our kind of customer and you can order with confidence.

Cheaper Shipping? Take a look at our two pack, three pack, and four pack feeder bundles. The more you ship the cheaper until you get to the oversize boxes. The four pack feeders will ship to California for around $15.00 per feeder.

There is no such thing as cheap shipping, UPS, USPS, and FedEx Ground all charge a lot of money to deliver packages. All "free shipping" programs have the cost of shipping buried in the cost of the product or in the case of Amazon Prime they require sellers to inventory a lot of product at dozens of warehouses around the U.S. and charge enormous selling fees to cover shipping and handling costs. As an example, we once sold on Amazon which has a $12.00 selling fee and you have to bury another $12.00 on the average into the sales price to cover the subsidized shipping. If we still sold on Amazon and offered the free shipping or Amazon fulfillment the feeder would cost $89.00 plus shipping (15 pounds is allowed $12.00 on Amazon) for a total of $101.00 net price to the customer.

Even if we used Amazon fulfillment the cost of warehousing feeders around the country and the cost of shipping the feeders to those warehouses would bring us right back to the same costs as shipping from our Oklahoma shop. A competing product sold on Amazon that holds the same amount of feed costs $99.95 but it has "free shipping", meaning you actually pay $34.95 for the shipping and selling fees. That product is the green plastic and sheet metal one and it is being dumped on the U.S. market after the Dutch company couldn't sell them in Europe due to design flaws that allow rats, wild birds, and squirrels to simply push the door open! This Dutch company is wholesaling them at $40.00 plus freight on a pallet of them and several retailers like Rentacoop and Hog Slat are keystoning them (doubling the cost). Hog Slat has a warning about the vermin being able to chew through the plastic parts of the feeder and the ability to push the door open, in bright red text but at the very bottom of the web page. The Amazon page for the product has a 30% critical (negative) reviews rating. It is a pretty feeder but it is also pretty bad.

This feeder is radically different from the other feeders for four main reasons. First, no plastic parts that rats will eventuality chew through. Second the treadle is set way back on purpose so that if a critter or a pack of critters managed to get the treadle down when they went forward to eat they would lose the leverage and the door would close. Third, the door is spring loaded so it is nearly impossible for several rats to push it open. A dozen might do that, four or five couldn't. Fourth, the entire treadle and door is counter weighted at considerable expense with a 2# counterweight that ensures the door always opens and always closes. It also has a one piece steel treadle that won't flex and break like the riveted aluminum or plastic treadles.

As far as competition there are three main competing products. The Grandpa feeder, the Feed o Matic from the Dutch company, and one from a company called Coops and More and a few clones of that model from other companies. All of the feeders are more expensive than our feeder

The Grandpa feeder is a nice feeder but three times the cost or our feeder. It is also what is called a guillotine feeder that goes up and down instead of swinging back. That makes it hard to train the birds. To train a flock using the Grandpa feeder you HAVE to block the feeder open for a week or more. Thre are dozens of negative reviews on the product.

The Feed o Matic is the green plastic top and plastic feed tray feeder sold on Amazon and several other websites by re-sellers. The 26 pound model sells for $95.99, 67% higher than our feeder, but they do offer free shipping. Now the average feeder shipping is around $22.00 so the rest goes toward paying the enormous Amazon fees and percentages. The feeders are made in Holland by a company called Olba and after lackluster sales in the EU due to design flaws they started dumping them on the U.S. to get rid of them. You can buy pallets of them and there are many re sellers of the product. One reseller, Hog Slat, posts a warning in bright red text stating that rats can push the door open and that rats can chew through the plastic feed tray and lid. The treadle is way too large, rodents or pigeons can swarm the feeder and hold the door open. It is made for smaller birds, too small for Rhode Island Reds, lots of complaints on the Amazon shopping cart page, around 30% of the reviews are critical of the product for a wide variety of reasons. Not only that, but the initial reviews all have a disclaimer that said they received the product for free in return for their review! Amazon recently made that illegal and grounds for banning the company from Amazon. The treadle on this feeder can also be jammed if the litter builds up or if the birds track a lot of chicken poop on the treadle. And the door isn't spring loaded so rats and even small mice can easily enter the door just by pushing on it. They advocate blocking the feeder open while training and customer reviews say it can take several weeks sometimes to train their birds. That is because blocking a feeder open is the worst thing to do during training because it teaches the birds that the treadle and door are not supposed to move. The Feed o Matic jams a lot according to the reviews, especially when the treadle is blocked open. One review said the feeder leaked and their feed was molding. Other reviews say the birds don't like sticking their heads so deep into the machine. With a critical review rate of 30% this product won't last long on Amazon before Amazon pulls it from the market. Here is a link to the reviews both positive and negative. https://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Treadle-Feeder-Chickens-Poultry/product-reviews/B01EOXEUIG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewpnt_rgt?ie=UTF8&sortBy=recent&filterByStar=critical&pageNumber=1

The Chicken Condo feeder has several clones out there, all with the same fatal flaws. The door isn't spring loaded or counter weighted so a mouse or rat can just push its way into the feeder. They have a complicated treadle step frame made of many sections of aluminum angle and metal fatigue and cracking ensue rapidly till the door no longer operates. Rats and pigeons can also swarm the treadle due to its large size treadle. The birds can't see the feed until they stick their head way up under the feeder. The door swings up, not back, so the potential for trapping a bird's head is high. The doors are complicated, many parts, and prone to wear and jamming in a dirty chicken coop. The marketing videos on these types of feeders advocate leaving the feeder blocked open for several weeks during training, not a good thing to do if you are buying a feeder because of vermin stealing the feed because it also teaches the vermin where the feed is and how to push the door open. Our feeder tried out the multi component treadle bar, the complicated arrangement for linkages fastened to the door to operate, and we quickly learned to eliminate both the complicated door and the multi part treadle due to the treadles failing rapidly. Instead we invested in the equipment to weld a solid steel axle, only one moving part, and nearly bullet proof. This also allows the spring loaded adjustable door that eliminates the possibility of several rats or a squirrel from pushing the feeder door open. None of the competing feeders have the 2# counterweight either which we found was essential for ensuring the feeder never failed to open or close completely. These Chicken Condo type clones were so bad for business that one company named Coops N More pulled their feeder from the market and it was an almost exact clone of the Chicken Condo feeder.

Buyers should be wary. Read the reviews and if there are many critical reviews that is the best indication of a poorly designed feeder. The Amazon feeder has a 30% negative review rate but when you look at the company's profile they claim a 100% positive rate so they do have control over the ratings and reviews on Amazon.